Monarchs That Haven’t Worn Kings Jerseys This Year

There are several current or former players of the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings AHL organization, that have been called up by the Kings this season:

Dwight King – had a brief stint on the first line

Oscar Moller – came in and played effectively

Jake Muzzin – filled in nicely on defense while Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell were out at the start of the year

John Zeiler – I know, you don’t remember

Then there’s-

Alec Martinez – started the year with Manchester but appears to have solidified himself in the Kings’ lineup

Andrei Loktionov – sticking around as the first line LW

But two that we haven’t seen this year competed in the AHL All-Star game over the weekend and have been making names for themselves this year: defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov and goaltender Martin Jones.

Both earned selections after putting up very impressive regular season numbers: Voynov leads the league’s defensemen with 11 goals and 25 assists in 46 games played, leading the team with 36 points; Jones is among the league leaders with a 17-5-2, 2.17 GAA and .930 save percentage in 25 games played.

This year’s AHL All-Star Classic was much like it’s big brother’s- a goal fest. They used the more traditional East vs. West format, with the East winning the game 11-8. Voynov posted 1 assist and Jones made 15 saves on 19 shots.

While the players’ numbers in the game were meager, both shined in the previous day’s skills competition.

Jones turned away all three shots faced in the ‘Pass and Score’ event, all but 1 of 6 shots in the Breakaway Relay, and as I was listening to it on XM Radio, apparently made some dazzling saves throughout.

Voynov competed in an event usually dominated by forwards- the Fastest Skater competition. Not only did he compete in the event, and not only did he WIN the event, he posted a blazing time of 14.197 seconds, which would have beaten the NHL fastest skater Michael Grabner’s winning time of 14.238 seconds. Grabner did, however, complete the lap in 14.061 seconds in his first attempt. Still, Voynov’s time beat Taylor Hall’s best time of 14.261, Martin St. Louis’ 14.763, Matt Duchene’s 14.779, Ryan Kesler’s 14.786, and Mike Green’s 15.200 by over 1 second.